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Lookup NU author(s): Courtney Neal, Dr Oliver Shannon, Dr Caroline AllenORCiD, Professor Melissa BatesonORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2024 The AuthorsFood insecurity (FI) is associated with increased mortality risk, depression, and obesity in females in high-income countries, but causal mechanisms remain unclear. FI is often assumed to lead to increased levels of hunger. However, quantitative evidence describing daily experiences of hunger in FI is lacking. Our pre-registered study used ecological momentary assessment to capture experiences of hunger in two groups of UK-based females: those experiencing FI (N = 143) and those experiencing food security (FS; N = 149). Participants self-reported hunger hourly (0900–2100) for one week (Monday-Sunday). There was no difference between groups in mean hunger (t(290) = 0.17, p = .866, d = 0.02) nor within-day standard deviation in hunger (t(290) = 1.31, p = .193, d = 0.15). However, both quantities fluctuated more from day to day in the FI group. Compared to the FS group, participants in the FI group had a larger day-to-day variation in mean hunger (t(284) = 2.43, p = .016, d = 0.29) and a larger day-to-day variation in the within-day standard deviation of hunger (t(284) = 2.90, p = .004, d = 0.34). In exploratory analyses, we found that the hunger of the two groups patterned differently across the day. Our findings suggest that experiences of hunger are less stable in those experiencing FI, which may reflect associations between FI and greater uncertainty in food access, higher variability in meal timings or the increased likelihood of chaotic home and work lives.
Author(s): Neal C, Pepper GV, Shannon OM, Allen C, Bateson M, Nettle D
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Appetite
Year: 2025
Volume: 204
Print publication date: 01/01/2025
Online publication date: 24/10/2024
Acceptance date: 23/10/2024
Date deposited: 11/11/2024
ISSN (print): 0195-6663
ISSN (electronic): 1095-8304
Publisher: Academic Press
URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2024.107732
DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2024.107732
Data Access Statement: All code and data are available on Open Science Framework at https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/6BP2Z .
PubMed id: 39454829
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